Sex addiction may not be addiction after all

slimvictor

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"Darkness cannot be dissipated with more darkness.
Sexual addiction is associated with sexual urges that feel out of control, but these symptoms do not necessarily mean addiction, U.S. researchers say.

Senior author Nicole Prause of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at the University of California, Los Angeles, said a diagnosis of hypersexuality or sexual addiction is typically associated with people who have sexual urges that feel out of control, who engage frequently in sexual behavior, who have suffered consequences such as divorce or economic ruin as a result of their behaviors, and who have a poor ability to reduce those behaviors.

One way to tease out the difference is to measure the brain's response to sexual-image stimuli. If a person suffers sexual addiction, the brain response to visual sexual stimuli could be expected be higher, just as brains of cocaine addicts react to images of the drug.

The study involved 52 volunteers: 39 men and 13 women, age 18-39, who reported trouble controlling their viewing of sexual images. They filled out four questionnaires involving sexual behaviors, sexual desire, sexual compulsions and behavioral outcomes of sexual behavior.

While viewing the images, the brains of the volunteers were monitored using electroencephalography.

"The brain's response to sexual pictures was not predicted by any of the three questionnaire measures of hypersexuality," Prause said in a statement.



Read more: http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2013...n-after-all/UPI-48001374473703/#ixzz2ZkzOw0hJ
 
Society is pretty quick to label certain behaviour's addiction. I quit smoking and that was hard, when people say they have a video game/sex/food addiction I admit I kind of want to punch them. The whole word addiction is a loaded one anyway. I personally think it should only apply to physical addiction, anything else just a habit IMO.
 
Society is pretty quick to label certain behaviour's addiction. I quit smoking and that was hard, when people say they have a video game/sex/food addiction I admit I kind of want to punch them. The whole word addiction is a loaded one anyway. I personally think it should only apply to physical addiction, anything else just a habit IMO.

I agree. Just saying 'addiction,' a certain weight seems to hang in the air, as if its a dirty word.
 
Society is pretty quick to label certain behaviour's addiction. I quit smoking and that was hard, when people say they have a video game/sex/food addiction I admit I kind of want to punch them. The whole word addiction is a loaded one anyway. I personally think it should only apply to physical addiction, anything else just a habit IMO.

I believe "physical addiction" should be labelled as "physical dependency," because it's the mind that does all the craving, not someone's limbs or torso.

And while I agree that the term "addiction" has been slapped like a label on some unlikely culprits, there is definitely more than just addiction to drugs.

We have to keep in mind how typical addictive behavior usually presents itself: A self-defeating habit that an individual cannot stop despite its adverse consequences.

IMO and IME, there are several other non-drug use related obsessions which fit the profile, including (but not limited to):

- Gambling
- Spontaneous Shopping
- Lust for Power and/or Control
- Compulsive Eating

I can't remember anything else at the moment as I'm struggling to even type this due to the fact that I'm nodding away (not that I mind).
 
There have been studies showing that gamblers' brains react to gambling like crack addicts' brains react to taking a hit (or something along those lines).
While it is true that "addiction" is a loaded term, it is also true that we don't know exactly what the differences are between, say, benzo addiction and gambling addiction, and that many elements are present with both addictions.
So, when people say that they have a food/video game addiction, instead of wanting to punch them, you might be better off contemplating the similarities and differences between those addictions and your "real" addictions. They might be more similar than you are thinking.
 
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